1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computerized simulation of hydrocarbon reservoirs in the earth, and in particular to forming models of flow profiles of fluids in wells in subsurface earth formations based on data obtained from well logging tools and laboratory data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In production from subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs or fields, it has been important to efficiently and effectively allocate wells which were to be used as production wells and wells which were to be used as injection reservoirs in order to optimize hydrocarbon production. This was particularly the case for large reservoirs with a number of wells. It was also particularly the case in connection with fields where the wells were horizontal wells. In such cases, it was desirable to know the flow profiles of the formations between the wells. The flow profile is a measure of the in situ flow rate of the formation at a particular depth or location in the well.
A well logging tool known as a production logging tool (or PLT) was often used for evaluating wells to determine the flow profiles of the formations where the wells were located. However, a production logging tool run was expensive and time consuming. In addition selection among wells in a reservoir or formation of wells as candidates for a production logging tool run had to be made on the basis of data from other, earlier logs together with estimates and intuition based on subjective prior experience. Also, for those wells in which a production logging tool run was not run and PLT data thus unavailable, analysis of the subsurface formation flow was based on data available from the other, earlier logging tool runs.